The Warriors may swallow Monday night’s loss easier than any other this season, because they didn’t lose their MVP after a terrifying first-half fall.

The Rockets trimmed their Western Conference finals’ deficit to 3-1 with a 128-115 victory, but the score seemed insignificant when Stephen Curry lied face down for several minutes on the Toyota Center baseline.

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Curry leaped in an attempt to block a Trevor Ariza layup with 5:52 remaining in the second quarter, but instead, the Warriors’ point guard flipped over the Houston small forward and spun awkwardly to the ground. Curry landed on the back of his shoulder and neck with such force that his head slammed against the hardwood.

Both teams’ medical staffs attended to Curry as his teammates crowded around. The opposing crowd cheered as an apparently dazed Curry held the right side of his head and was helped to the locker room.

Curry’s father, Dell, headed to the locker room to check on his son, and a few minutes later, Warriors general manager Bob Myers sat down with the rest of the Curry family to update them on the injury status. Curry underwent concussion tests and was diagnosed with a head contusion, according to the Warriors.

The Warriors trailed 55-36 when Curry was injured, but they tried to rally in his absence — reeling off a 15-6 run to trim the deficit to 61-51 on a Leandro Barbosa three-pointer with 3:17 remaining. After trailing by as many as 25 points in the first half, the Warriors went into the halftime locker room down 69-59.

Dwight Howard threw a backhanded slap that connected with Andrew Bogut’s face and was called for a flagrant-1 foul at the 8:07 mark of the third quarter. Bogut missed both of the free throws, and Andre Iguodala missed a three-pointer on the ensuing possession — in what could have been a five-point swing.

Unbeknownst to the Warriors, Curry was meanwhile sprinting in the bowels of the arena to complete his concussion tests. He marched back to the Warriors’ bench and rubbed the back of his head while looking at his family seated in about the 20th row.

The arena was abuzz when he checked into the game with the Warriors trailing 78-69 at the 5:58 mark. His first shot came 91 seconds later, a wing jumper that missed wide left of the rim and drew a mocking “M-V-P” chant from the Houston crowd.

Curry’s next shot was blocked by Terrence Jones. By the time Curry finally scored again — a technical free throw at the 2:25 mark — the Warriors were down 93-76. Jones’ buzzer-beating putback dunk of James Harden’s missed three-pointer gave the Rockets a 99-84 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

But Curry’s mere appearance on the court stirred something in Klay Thompson, who scored six points during the Warriors’ 11-3, fourth-quarter-opening run that trimmed the Rockets’ lead to 102-95. Curry’s fourth three-pointer of the night got the Warriors within 104-98 with 8:24 left, but the Warriors never got closer as Houston reeled off 10 straight points.

The series shifts back to Oakland, where the teams will play Game 5 at 6 p.m. Wednesday, and the Oracle Arena crowd will undoubtedly give Curry a hero’s welcome — more for his guts than for his 23-point, four-assist performance in Game 4.

Draymond Green had 21 points and 15 rebounds for his 10th double-double during the 2015 postseason and is on pace to become the first Warrior to average a double-double throughout a playoffs since Larry Smith in 1987.

Thompson snapped out of a series-long funk to score 24 points on 6-of-13 three-point shooting, Harrison Barnes put up 14 points and Leandro Barbosa and Andre Iguodala came off the bench to combine for 25 points. Houston got 45 points, nine rebounds and five assists fromHarden and 20 points, six rebounds and five assists from Josh Smith, but the Rockets still face a huge uphill scramble.

None of the first 116 NBA teams that have fallen into a 3-0 hole during a best-of-seven series have ever recovered to win the series — with only three even forcing a Game 7. Only nine teams that have been down 3-1 have ever completed the comeback, including Houston doing it to the Clippers in this postseason’s West semifinals.